Notes

1. “impacts on job creation are expected to increase the demand for creative thinking and resilience, flexibility, and agility skills.” – what does this even mean in our context? (Pg. 5)
2. The top three fastest growing skills are anticipated to be – Big Data and AI, Networks and Cybersecurity, and Technological Literacy (Pg. 5)
3. Two demographic shifts are increasingly seen to be transforming global economies and markets: aging and declining working age populations, predominantly in higher-income economies, and expanding working age populations, predominantly in lower-income economies. (Pg. 5)
4. Technology related roles are the fastest growing jobs in percentage terms. (Pg. 6)
5. Clerical and secretarial workers are expected to see the largest decline in terms of absolute numbers. (Pg. 6)
6. The measure of “skill instability” has slowed compared to the previous edition of the report, from 44% in 2023 and a high point of 57% in 2020 in the wake of the pandemic. (Pg. 6)
7. Analytical thinking remains the most-sought-after skill amongst employers, with seven out of ten companies considering it as essential in 2025. This is followed by resilience, flexibility, agility, along with leadership and social influence. (Pg. 6)
8. AI and Big Data top the list of fastest growing skills, followed closely by networks and cybersecurity as well as technology literacy. Complementing these technology related skills, creative thinking, resilience, flexibility and agility, along with curiosity and lifelong learning, are also expected to continue to rise in importance in the 2025-2030 period. (Pg. 6)
9.  Most prominent skills differentiating growing from declining jobs are anticipated to comprise resilience, flexibility and agility; resource management and operations; quality control; programming and technological literacy. (Pg. 6)
10. If the world’s workforce was made up of 100 people, 59 would need training by 2030. Of these, employers foresee that 29 could be upskilled in their current roles and 19 could be reskilled and deployed elsewhere within their organisation. However, 11 would be unable to get the reskilling or upskilling needed, leaving their employment prospects increasingly at risk. (Pg. 6)
11. Skill gaps are considered to be the biggest barrier to business transformation, with 63% of employers identifying them as a major barrier over the 2025-2030 period. Accordingly, 85% of employers surveyed plan to prioritise upskilling their workforce, with 70% of employers expecting to hire staff with new skills, 40% planning to reduce skills as their skills become less relevant, and 50% planning to transition from declining to growing roles. (Pg. 6) So, just be great at technical and soft skills always to survive?
12. What do employees want? – supportive health and wellbeing schemes, effective reskilling and upskilling initiatives, improving talent progression and promotion, funding for and provision of reskilling and upskilling (Pg. 6)